


Little Bit Easier

by Strangerest_things



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/F, Friends in the first chapter, crushes in the next one, elmax - Freeform, im making it canon, maxel, stranger things, theyre best friends ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-10 22:18:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12921372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strangerest_things/pseuds/Strangerest_things
Summary: Set after season 2, El looking after Max and them being best friends





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The title isn’t the best but all well. I hope it’s ok! :)

She had only gone to the bathroom and Max was here now. El didn’t have a problem with her anymore, what bothered her was the bags beneath Max’s eyes. She saw the dark circles as soon as she walked into the basement. They were huge and very dark. El knew that they happened when you don’t get enough sleep. They boys were arguing and probably didn’t notice it yet. So El sat next to Max and asked as loud as she could without alerting the boys, “Can we talk upstairs?”  
Max wasn’t sure if El was talking to her and did a double when she realised she was. It was just that El didn’t really talk to Max one on one, it was always with the party- when she was more comfortable. “Uh, yeah sure.” Max said making her way upstairs, El was right behind her.  
“Are you… alright?” El asked, not sure how to start the conversation.  
“Yeah, I’m fine. Why are you asking?” Max said looking down at the ground, not meeting El’s eyes.  
“The bags, under your eyes. They’re from not sleeping, right?” El asked, expressing her concern. She pointed at Max’s eyes.  
“Oh yeah, I just haven’t been sleeping well lately.” Max shrugged shoulders, but this was a lie, Max knew it and El did too.  
“Are you sure?” El didn’t want to push, she knew what it was like to be pushed to talk and she hated it. She didn’t Max to tell her if she didn’t want to.  
“It’s just nightmares.” Max said as if it wasn’t important. She thought it wasn’t, nightmares were just nightmares. Max didn’t want to bother anyone over stupid nightmares.  
“Oh, what are they about?” El said slowly and calmly. El wanted Max her to talk but she shouldn’t push. Max wanted to tell her but she thought it was stupid, they were probably nothing compared to El’s.  
“Uh, well you know about the Mind Flayer or whatever, it’s just the demodogs. I know it’s stupid but…” Max trailed off, she had tears in her eyes. She could see all the nightmares again, playing on repeat. One after the other. Each nightmare someone new getting hurt or dying. Her throat hurt from not crying. El grabbed her hand and started rubbing circles on her knuckles. Mike did this to calm her all the time, so why wouldn’t it calm Max?  
“It’s not stupid, at all. It’s hard now but it will get easier.” El said softly. That’s what Hopper said, that it would get easier and it was. It didn’t seem that way to Max, it was getting worse.  
“How can you be sure?” Max asked in a small voice. She wiped her nose on her jumpers sleeve.  
“I just do. We can get through it together.” El said for sure. She wanted to help Max, she knew what it was like to be alone but Hopper helped her and now she was going to help Max. Together.  
“Together?” Max asked, she liked the thought of not having to do this alone. She was really glad to have El support her.  
“Together.” El said, certain. Not giving it a second thought. Max felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, like it was a little easier to breathe. Max mumbled a thank you.  
“Do you feel like going down to the basement yet?” El asked after a few moments, giving her time to calm down.  
“I’ll be down soon, you can go if you want.” Max said, sniffing her nose.  
“Ok, come down when you’re ready.” El said, squeezing Max’s hand before letting go and going down the basement stairs. Max wiped her eyes and nose on her sleeve. She took a few breaths in and out. She than walked down the stairs back the party, almost as normal. It wasn’t normal and she wasn’t alright but it just got that little bit easier.


	2. Chapter 2

El had been there just as she said. She always made sure to talk to Max away from the boys about her nightmares. Not long after Max started telling her about the nightmares El started to tell Max about hers. Then they started to tell each other everything, they became closer than they were with the party. The boys complained about it and how they knew them for longer but it was always with a smile. There was one thing they didn’t tell each other, their crushes. Max had a huge crush on El but never told her, she didn’t want to ruin the friendship and she was pretty sure El liked Mike. El had a crush on Max, it was obvious-apparently to Mike and Dustin. El never told her because she could apparently see that Max and Lucas liked each other. The first person Max told was Lucas, okay he got it out of her. During the conversation Will walked in and heard about her crush. Will said that El liked her back, that she had told Mike. Max didn’t believe it, she couldn’t. So she kept that secret to her self. The boys devised a plan to try and get them to admit their crushes to each other. It started with a sleepover. They all sat in a circle on the basement floor and started to play truth or dare. Max thought it was a stupid game but she could say no when she saw how El’s face lit up. “Truth or dare, Max?” Will asked. “Dare.” Max said, there was no way she was going to choose truth. “I dare you… to tell who you have a crush on.” Will said innocently, as if he didn’t know. Max wanted to kill him, her face was bright red. “No one.” Max said as calmly as she could. “Are you sure?” Lucas asked with a smirk. Max really wanted to give him the finger but nodded instead. They went on with the game. “El, truth or dare?” Dustin asked with a small smile. “Truth.” El said smiling back, not knowing what was coming. “Do you have a crush. If so who?” Dustin said with a mischievous smile. “No I don’t.” El blushed. She was a bit mad at Dustin, he knew who she liked. They played a couple more rounds before watching Star Wars. El and Max sat closer than they needed to. Halfway into the movie El grabbed Max’s hand and started rubbing circles on the back. It was normal for them, Max assumed that El held hands with everyone but El only held hands with someone if they were stressed. Not long after, they feel asleep, still holding hands. That night neither of them had nightmares.   
~~~~~~  
However the next night was so much worse for Max. She woke up with a start, she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She kicked her blankets off, she was too hot and sweaty for them. She wanted to radio El but decided not to, it was too late for that. The nightmare kept playing over and over. The demodogs would come for them, El would try to fight and kill them but in the end they overpowered her, there were too many, it ended with a pool of blood around El. She knew that El was probably fine and it was just a stupid dream but before she knew it she was out of bed and getting her supercom. “El are you there?” There was dead silence, she knew El wouldn’t pick up but she needed her. “El please, I need you.” It was still silent, Max hoped her mom and Neil couldn’t hear her. “Max? I’m here. What’s wrong?” El asked in a sleepy voice. Max let out a sigh of relief. “I had a nightmare, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have radioed you, it late.” Max apologised. “It’s fine, what was the nightmare?” El replied immediately. “The demodogs. They overpowered you, and there was so much blood and no one could save you, I couldn’t save you.” Max said in a rushed voice, the tears welling up in her eyes in again. “It’s okay, I’m here with you. They can’t get you or me. It’ll be fine.” El tried to comfort Max. “Did you have any nightmares?” Max trying distract herself from her nightmares. “No, I’ve been pretty good lately.” El said truthfully. She hated how it was getting easier for her but not Max. “Oh, good for you.” Max said with a small smile. “Thanks. Are you okay now?” El replied. “Uh, yeah.” Max lied. It wasn’t a complete lie, she did feel a little better. “Good.” El said, relieved. Max was going to say but El got in before her. “Max I’m sorry but I think I hear Hopp-Dad. I have to go.” El said, sighing. “It’s okay, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, yeah?” Max said, full of hope. “Yeah. Sweet dreams Max.” El said softly. “Good night.” Max put her supercom down next to her bed and pulled the covers over again. Max didn’t get much sleep that night, thought she had come to a conclusion: she was in love with El.   
~~~   
Max wasn’t sure what to do, she thought about telling Lucas or Will, maybe even Mike or Dustin but she couldn’t. Every time she asked to speak alone with them the others would either get suspicious and stop them from talking alone or she just couldn’t say it out loud. Around El her face would always turn red. Wether it was El holding her hand or just simply asking her a question. She could tell that El was getting suspicious about the way she was acting but she never said anything. El however thought that Max didn’t like her anymore, that she was pretending to be her friend, it hurt. A lot. But she couldn’t say anything to Max, she’d rather be able to talk to her a little bit than not talk at all. She asked Dustin and Mike about Max’s weird behaviour but they said it was because of her crush on El that made her act weird. El didn’t think that Max was being weird because she might have a crush on her, Max told her everything. “Yeah, you tell each other everything but you said you’ve never talked about crushes.” Mike pointed out. “Yeah, Mike’s right. You ask her about crushes but you don’t have to tell her about your crush.” Dustin added. El nodded and bit the inside of her cheek. She thought about it, it wasn’t a bad idea and there wasn’t a lot that could go wrong. She decided to ask Max tonight, before they went to sleep.   
~~~~~  
El picked up her supercom from her bedside table hoping that Max had hers nearby. “Max, are you there?” She asked. It took a few moments but Max answered. “Yeah, I’m here, are you okay?” Max asked with concern. “What? Yeah I’m fine. I just wanted to ask you about something…” El trailed off nervously. “What did you want ask?” Max said, she wasn’t unfamiliar with El asking her about stuff, El usually went to Mike but she starting asking Max them more often now. “Well, I wanted to ask you about… crushes.” El said shyly. El blushed even though Max couldn’t see her. “Oh, what about them?” Max asked, she wasn’t sure where this conversation was going and if she finds out Lucas put El up to this she was going to murder him. “Well, I wanted to know if you had one. I know you said you didn’t with the boys but I thought I’d ask anyway.” El said, she had practiced what she was going to say all day. “Um, I do have one.” Max blushed, hoping that El wouldn’t ask who it was because she couldn’t lie to El, never to El. “Who is it?” El asked, she wanted to know who it was but at the same time she didn’t. What if it was someone else? There was a pause before Max answered. “I’ll tell you when I see you next.” Max said, if she was going to tell El she liked her, she wanted to do it to her face. “Promise?” El asked, in a soft voice. “I promise.” Max reassured. “Good night, Max.” El replied, happy that Max promised to tell her. “Good night, El.” Max replied, softly. She turned her supercom off and sat it down on her bedside table. She was nervous to tell El about her crush but at least she wouldn’t have to hide it anymore.   
~~~~~  
The next time Max saw El was two days after El radioed her, they still talked through the supercoms but nothing was said about crushes. When El got to Mike’s, the boys were playing Dungeons and Dragons, El didn’t feel like playing so Max offered to play some card games with her. They started with go fish. After a few rounds (all of which Max won) El asked Max to speak alone with her upstairs. They did, it gave Max déjà vu, from when El asked about the bags underneath her eyes, when the weight on her shoulders got a little bit easier to carry. “So, who is it?” El asked as soon as the door closed. Their was this knot in Max’s stomach, it had appeared when El asked to talk upstairs. “Umm, I’m not sure how to say this but it’s… you. I have a crush on you, El.” Max said quietly and nervously. She looked at the ground not meeting El’s eyes. She missed the smile that lit up El’s face. “I have a crush on you too.” El said softly, she grabbed out and laced Max’s hand into her own. “Really?” Max asked disbeliefing, she couldn’t believe it. “Yes, really.” El said honestly. Max looked at El with a huge smile, El had a matching one. Max presse her lips to El’s for just a few seconds but it was long enough for them to both blush. “Pretty.” El whispered to Max. “Not as pretty as you.” Max whispered back. This made El blush even more. They both had huge smiles and blushing faces. Max reached for the basement door with her free hand, but stopped when she heard what sounded like four boys running down the stairs away from the door. She shook her head and opened it fully. She walked down the stairs with El’s nah still in hers. The four boys had smug grins on their faces, they had been listening in to their conversation. “We told you.” Dustin said, smugly. El chuckled while Max rolled her eyes. “Oh shut it.” Max added. The boys laughed but eventually went back to their game. Max and El went back to their card games, Max was now losing every game. She was too distracted by El. “Good distraction or bad distraction?” El asked when Max told her that she was distracted. “The best kind of distraction.” Max said with a huge smile. El smiled back. It felt like life had got a whole lot easier for Max.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y’all enjoyed it!!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it, if not why? Any feedback would be appreciated:)


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